Edward McIlwain Lane

On Wednesday, June 26th at 6 pm, the laneway between Oakwood Ave. and Regal Rd. will be officially named “Edward McIlwain Lane”. Come and join in the recognition of a former well-respected neighbor and friend to all. Everyone is welcome!

About Edward McIlwain

Edward McIlwain lived at 1380 Davenport for over fifty
years. He came to Toronto from Thunder Bay in 1962. He and his wife Mary,
raised four girls, Linda, Cindy, Kelley and Beverley. They attended Regal Road
School and Winona Public School and then went on to further education. They all
still live in the neighbourhood.

“Ed” (as he was known to everybody) worked for 40 years as a
Plasterer. All houses in that period had plaster walls and ceilings. Ed became
an artist in his craft as a plasterer and he would get calls long after he
retired.

Edward McIlwain was a friend to everybody and everybody knew
of his warm generous spirit. He was always helping others or the community,
never missing an opportunity to contribute. He instilled this social conscience
in his daughters and his grandchildren who still live close by.

When walking became a problem in his retirement, he drove a
scooter and continued in his usual kind manner. Edward was predeceased by his
wife and he died in 2013.

We wish to honour a remarkable man who befriended everyone
and helped where he could, leaving a legacy of a family with his attributes in
our neighbourhood. We were lucky to have known Ed.

Consent was given by Linda De Giorgio, Ed’s daughter and Treasurer
on the Regal Heights Residents’ Association executive committee.

Event Report

Ceremony officially unveils the Ed McIlwain
Lane

Dozens of
family, friends and neighbours turned out on Thursday, June 27 for the official
unveiling of the newest named lane in Regal Heights.

Signs now
mark the Ed McIlwain Lane, which runs from Oakwood Ave. just north of
Davenport, emerging between two houses on Regal Rd.

Councillor
Ana Bailão’s office presented the family with a framed copy of the City
ordinance approving the new name. The Regal Heights Residents’ Association also
presented a copy of the order on a decorative scroll.

Ed was a fixture in the neighbourhood and lived at 1380 Davenport for more than 50 years. He and his wife Mary
had four daughters who still live in the neighbourhood and who attended the
unveiling.

Ed
worked as a plasterer and many homes in Regal Heights still have lovely
“Ed” ceilings. He was also
heavily involved in the life of the community. Even in his later years,
neighbours would see him on his scooter, helping to pick up trash on the annual
neighbourhood cleanup day. He died in 2013.

In his
keynote speech at the ceremony, long-time friend and Regal Heights resident Michael
Erkelenz remembered Ed as a man who knew everything there was to know about our local community,
“a one-man repository of neighbourhood lore.”

More important, Michael said, Ed was always willing to help. “He
put the word “neighbour” in “neighbourhood,” he said. “Especially when he was
younger and in his prime, he was an almost limitless source of aid and
assistance to the people who lived around him.”

The ceremony concluded when two of the youngest members of Ed’s
extended clan removed a cloth cover to reveal the new street sign marking the
Oakwood end of Ed McIlwain Lane.

Congratulations to the family and a special thank you to Florence
Watts, whose energy and persistence made the new lane name a reality.

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RHRA is A Member of TANGO

Statement of Acknowledgement

We would like to acknowledge the diversity of the First Peoples of this area and honour the stewardship of the Mississaugas of the New Credit, the Anishinaabe, the Iroquois-Haudenosaunee and the Huron-Wendat. Today, Toronto is still home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and around the world. We are grateful to have the opportunity to work, live and meet on this territory.

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Regal Heights is a leafy tree filled community.

While much of Toronto is flat land, unique geographic features set the Regal Heights neighbourhood apart. The most prominent is the 50 to 75-foot bluff — called Davenport Hill or the Davenport Escarpment — just north of Davenport Road. It marks the shoreline of a prehistoric lake that was formed at the end of the Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago.

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